King’s College London is seeking to appoint an outstanding leader to the newly created position of Director of eResearch.

King’s College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world. Situated in the heart of London, it is a diverse and global institution with more than 27,000 students from nearly 150 countries, and more than 7,000 colleagues across five campuses. King’s is a vibrant and exciting place, inspiring and leading the way in discovery and innovation through its students, academics and their cutting-edge research. King’s provides an intellectually stimulating environment in which to work, with staff dedicated to the advancement of knowledge and learning, in the service of society.

Reporting to the Assistant Principal (Research and Innovation) and the Chief Digital Officer, the postholder will establish from scratch, and grow, an eResearch function, building the necessary expertise and infrastructure. The function will be research-led and IT-enabled, and will be designed to meet the growing technology requirements of researchers across all disciplines at King’s. The function will develop computational, research software engineering and research (data) management capabilities, working closely with IT and the Library. It will also develop relevant expertise in the workforce, and generate commercial opportunities. Working closely with an eResearch advisory group, the new Director will develop business, operational and commercial plans. He/she will promote an environment in which technology supports, enhances and enables an innovative research culture. The aim is to have eResearch embedded throughout the institution so that the function supports research teams from grant writing through to research execution and beyond. The appointee will sit on the Research, IT and Digital leadership teams.

The College is looking for an expert leader, who is probably, but not necessarily, an academic, and who is excited by the challenge of developing best-in-class eResearch services. Candidates must bring some management experience, and must be skilled at pulling together project teams. Strong communication, advocacy and organisational skills will be critical, as will the ability to engage with the academic community across all disciplines at King’s. Strong candidates will be enablers, with exceptional leadership, dynamism, and vision. King’s has the capability to aim high and become a world leader in this field. This is an opportunity to start up a new area of activity that is pivotal to King’s research strategy and to the College remaining at the forefront of global research and innovation.